In some environments, it is important to monitor the presence of certain persons within a particular location and also to monitor the contact between persons and equipment within a location. Such environments include areas where hygiene is of particular importance, such as hospitals or food preparation settings, and also manufacturing and product assembly areas and areas of restricted access. It is also important to track which equipment within a location has been used and on what is has been used. It is, however, difficult to maintain a record of such information.
An example of such a difficulty is illustrated by considering a product assembly line. Workers on an assembly line can each be assigned a designated task as part of the assembly of the desired product. Each worker may have a set number of tools and equipment for carrying out the task. If a task on the assembly line is not completed to an appropriate level, the resulting product may not comply with the necessary quality assurance standards. It is, however, very difficult to monitor a workers compliance with the necessary standards required for each set task. It is also difficult to monitor the nature of the tools and equipment used and the worker using them.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system that at least partially alleviates or overcomes the above problems.